School Savings Club paying in dates 2019/2020
Did you know we offer a School Savings Club in association with Leeds Credit Union?
The account is open to all children and it is free to set up. As there is not minimum deposit requirement, it is a great way for your child/children to learn the importance of money.
As an extra incentive, Year 3 pupils who open an account, or who currently have an account, will be credited with £10.
We offer paying in sessions every half term where you can bring along any savings to be paid into your child’s account.
The paying in dates for this year are at 3.15-3.45pm on the following dates (the penultimate Monday of each half term).
- 14 October
- 09 December
- 03 February
- 23 March
- 11 May
- 06 July
If you’re unable to attend in person, please hand in any money to be deposited to the office in a sealed envelope addressed to Mrs Tiffany.
To find out more about the accounts or if your child would like to open account, please enquire at the office.
Ridiculous rhymes
We’re very excited to welcome the CBeebies Rhyme Rocket team to Moortown Primary School on Tuesday 15 October.
They’ll kick start their visit with a whole-school show: The Ridiculous Rhyme Show. After that, for children in Y5 and Y6, they’ll lead on a TV workshop, where older children can find out more about what it’s like to work in the media world.
Read more about the performance and workshop.
Please support this exciting trip. We ask you make a voluntary contribution of £2.50 minimum for the show.
Healthy Schools revalidation
We are proud to continue to be a happy and healthy school.
‘Congratulations on re-validating your Healthy Schools Status using the School Health Check tool, indicating that your school has self-evaluated whole school health. This demonstrates that your school is continuing to embed and improve provision against the four core areas of Healthy Schools.’
Health and Wellbeing service, Leeds City Council
Our re-validation was based on the four core areas of Healthy Schools –
- Personal Social Health Education (PSHE)
- Healthy Eating
- Physical Activity
- Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health
A visit will be arranged later this year to externally reassess this self-validation.
This status is valid for three years before re-validation is necessary (August 2019 – August 2022). During this period, a visit will be arranged to externally reassess your self-validation. Once the school has had a successful reassessment, you will then receive a Healthy Schools plaque and feedback report. In the meantime, we do recommend that you update the School Health Check on an annual basis.
Aldi Kit for Schools
Aldi’s Kit for Schools promotion is giving twenty primary schools the chance to win £20,000 to kick-start a health legacy for their school.
What’s more, every school who enters by completing their Aldi’s Kit for Schools poster will also receive an exclusive school sports kit! Help us collect stickers with every £30 you spend in store and fill up our school’s poster to give us a chance to win. Please bring your stickers to the school office before the promotion ends on the 3rd November. Thank you for your support.
Themed menu
Catering Leeds, our school meal provider, will be running a special themed menu on Thursday 3rd October. Please contact the office, as soon as possible, if your child would like a school meal on this day (no action needed if your child normally has a school meal on this day).
Bike to School Week
This week, it is Bike to School Week. Bike to School Week is a week long event designed to showcase the benefits of cycling to school.
Have you been inspired by the current UCI Road World Championships to get on your bike? Could you make biking to school one of your active methods of travelling to school this week?
To link with Bike to School week, our Year 1 class will be completing their Balance, Pedal, Go bike training this week.
If you are wanting to explore the area further by bike, this West Yorkshire Cycle map can help to find recommended routes.
Finally, have you visited the local Brownlee Centre? Take a look at some of their Let’s Ride sessions.
Tennis for Kids
Chapel Allerton Tennis and Squash Club are launching their Tennis For Kids courses at the club from this week (Thursdays and Saturdays).
These sessions are aimed at children between 4 and 11 years old. and both members and non-members are welcome to attend.
Tennis For Kids is a great way for kids to learn the basics of the game whilst having fun and interacting with other children at an affordable price.
Homework policy update
Each year in the annual survey of parents and carers, we ask what you like most about our school and what you think we might be able to improve. We always get lots more people telling us things they like – thank you for this! We do also welcome your suggestions for improvements – whilst we can’t always act on all the suggestions, we do always read and consider them.
One area that comes up every year is homework. Some of you want more, some of you want less. Some of you like the Creative homework, some of you thinks it takes too much time.
This year, we’ve listened to what you tell us and thought about ways we think we can improve:
- We’ve reminded teachers to make sure homework is purposeful.
- We’ve reviewed the guidelines as to how long we recommend your child spends on their homework – the new guide is no more than 30-40 minutes, which includes for Creative homework.
- We’ve reflected on the amount of the three different types of homework (Talk Time, Creative and Practice makes Perfect) so there’s hopefully a better balance to suit more pupils (and parents).
We hope the new changes will mean continued happy and healthy learning at home as well as at school. Read the policy and download a Homework Guide.
Annual survey: you said, we'll do
Thank you to those parents who completed the annual parent/carer survey. Your comments give us the opportunity to not only celebrate those things you think are great about our school but also to consider ways to improve. Mr Roundtree has already presented an overview; I’ve identified three areas which we’ll work on in school. Whilst it is impossible to attempt to respond to all comments, we do read every one.
This year, a few people raised behaviour incidents that appeared to go unnoticed or children being told to ‘ignore’ incidents. Ignoring minor problems can be a way to ‘rise above’ something and help to build up resilience. However, we absolutely agree that this is often not the best way to respond. We’ll work with all adults in school to explore other ways to manage behaviour problems and to make sure we respond effectively to the child who’s upset. For example, we’ll aim to make sure that an upset child has ways to solve a minor problem independently – empowering the child in this way is likely to be more effective over time.
Linked to behaviour, a small number raised concerns about some individual children’s behaviour. Pupils’ behaviour at Moortown is really, really good: the vast majority of children follow our rules and behave appropriately in different situations. Sometimes, some individual children may need a different approach to help them support their behaviour choices. Their behaviour is not being ignored but is being addressed in a different way. Please be assured that behaviour is not ignored – it’s just that sometimes (quite rarely!) it needs addressing in different ways.
Homework was another thing raised in the survey. The right amount of homework is always difficult to achieve: some parents want school to provide more learning opportunities at home and others want none at all. We think reading and times table practice is essential. Some comments mentioned that the creative homework was difficult for children to achieve without parents supporting them to do research. As a result of this, we will add to our homework policy that creative homework should only come at the end of new learning – when the children have all the information they need. This means your child won’t need much help at all – they’re demonstrating what they’ve learnt in school.
There were several comments raised about the space at the back of school. We are as frustrated as you regarding the time it is taking to develop the area of land at the back of school. It may seem that we’re not doing anything but because of logistics (planning permission, tree felling, landscaping and cost), it’s taking a long time to show any changes. We know that you would like more outdoor space for your children to enhance their learning – we do too. The space will be developed into a useable area as soon and as safely as possible. We know you’re frustrated – we’ll update you with as much as we can each half term in our newsletters.
Platinum award
At the end of each year, schools are invited to apply for their School Games Mark. The School Games Mark rewards schools for their commitment to and development of competition, school sport and physical education.
We’re very proud to announce that our application has been verified and we have been awarded Platinum award.
Platinum award is open to schools who have achieved Gold award for the previous four years.
We have achieved this award due to encouraging a large number of children to participate in sporting activity; providing a variety of different sports; partaking in competitions; involving children in leadership activities and having many local links with external clubs and establishments.
Thank you to staff who have accompanied children to these events or run after-school clubs this year. Thank you also to Mrs Russell who provides excellent administration of our clubs and sporting events and competitions. Thank you as well to all parents/carers who have helped with transport and supported at our events this year.
Finally, well done to all pupils who have tried out a new physical activity either at an after-school club or as part of a competition or participation event and to those children who have represented our school so well this year.